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The bodies of a 34-year-old woman and her young daughter, 10 have been found inside freezing appliances in an residence in western Austria.

The victims, a woman from Syria and her child, who had been missing for several months, were found on the end of last week. The freezers were hidden behind a false wall in the apartment, situated in the city of Innsbruck.

A pair of males, a 55-year-old Austrian and his brother aged 53, were arrested in June. The 55-year-old, a work associate of the Syrian woman, stated to law enforcement last week that there had been an unfortunate event—but disputed murder.

Speaking to journalists recently, a representative for the public prosecutor's office said the pair were being detained on "high likelihood of murder".

The names of those implicated have been withheld by police, in accordance with Austrian law.

Their going missing was initially flagged by the cousin of the mother, who lives in Germany, on July 25, 2024.

Authorities stated the woman's colleague told them at the time she had gone on an extended trip with her daughter to visit her parents in Turkey.

The victim's bank card was then discovered to be utilized in foreign locations several times.

But when police searched the woman's home, her cellphone was discovered.

A witness also claimed hearing a loud noise in the apartment, and screams of "mum" on the day the two were thought to have disappeared.

A wider official inquiry was launched, with investigators uncovering various messages sent from the woman's phone—such as a notice of quitting to her workplace and texts to the 55-year-old suspect.

Authorities said a amount in the thousands was also moved to the suspect.

Katja Tersch informed reporters on Tuesday that a storage unit had been leased before the vanishing and a cooling unit had been positioned inside.

The two suspects took out the appliance from the storage space on the date the woman and her child went missing, Tersch said. And a shortly afterward, they acquired another freezer.

Authorities believe they believe this indicates the fatalities were intentionally orchestrated.

"The cause of death was not identifiable due to the condition of the victims," she stated.

A legal representative—from the legal authorities—noted the specific order of occurrences is not yet known, but the victims were professionally hidden and were not found during a previous house search.

Although the brothers were taken into custody in June, it was not until 12 November that the 55-year-old admitted to an occurrence and to storing the victims. He disputes any plan to cause death, authorities confirmed.

In a related development, his 53-year-old sibling acknowledged a cover-up but rejected awareness of a homicide.

The pair are presently in pre-trial detention in prisons in two Austrian cities, approximately 189 kilometers away from each other.

Through a combined announcement, Austria's Minister for Women and the top legal representative said the "suspected killing of two... constitutes the swift and cruel conclusion of two human lives and uncovers a brutal scheme".

"Female individuals are being murdered due to the simple reality that they are female," they added.

"Gender-based killings are a strongly established and society-wide problem that we must address decisively."